How to Install an Ikea Kitchen

hi my name is robert blakemore from switchdoor did you know that we make custom doors that seamlessly fit onto ikea's cabinets we have over 300 styles for you to transform your ikea kitchen into a beautiful designer kitchen that you will love and you save money from hiring a custom cabinet shop in this video i'll be walking us through the entire process of installing an ikea kitchen i have over 30 years of installing both custom and ikea kitchens throughout the video i will be offering switch door pro tips that go beyond the usual ikea install to ensure that your kitchen is built to last and looks its best let's get started [Music] on delivery day clear a space to organize all the boxes separate them out into pantry frames lower cabinets upper cabinets and drawers cross-check everything you receive with the order you placed the tools that you need for the installation include a 48 inch and 24 inch builders level i also find it very handy to have a laser level for setting out the kitchen for power tools you will need a drill a screw gun with a countersink drill bit vise clamps hacksaw hole saws jigsaw chop saw table saw belt sander a caulking gun an assortment of screws the first step when beginning the install is to lay out your whole kitchen on the walls of your kitchen space set your laser level at 34 and a half inches off the ground i normally take this measurement where the sink is and this is what you're going to be installing your hanging rail for the base cabinets too thirty four and a half inches is the measurement you will use if you are using three centimeter quartz countertops this line wants to be continued around your whole kitchen where the base cabinets are to be installed when you are installing your sink cabinet it frequently is best to center that cabinet underneath the window and work away from that to the left and right to begin hanging up your lower frames use a stud finder and mark the studs with a pencil along the 34 and a half inch line that you have drawn do the same for the upper cabinets mark with a pencil where the studs are and the exact spot where you will be drilling for your screws for upper cabinets the line should be at 94.5 inches for 90 inch cabinets and 84.5 inches for 80 inch frames these measurements are again based on using three centimeter quartz counters once you have put your marks on the wall for where the hanging rail will go it is time to start putting that in place line up your hanging rail along the wall to see what size you need to cut it down to once you have your line cut that with a hacksaw [Music] this is where we want to introduce a switch door pro tip i personally do not use the metal plates that ikea supplies with the hanging rail to screw the rail onto the walls instead line up your hanging rail to the back wall and mark on the hanging rail where the studs are drill a three millimeter hole through the hanging rail where you marked the studs once all the hanging rails have been marked and drilled through accurately line up the hanging rail making sure the line is level with the top of the hanging rail using the same three millimeter drill bit drill through the holes in your hanging rail into the stud of the wall then using a two and a half inch round head screw screw that in through the hanging rail to hold it up once the hanging rails have been screwed in we need to make sure that they are level use a builder's level to ensure the hanging rail is perfectly level and straight when installing the hanging rail it is really important to make sure you do not leave it screwed tight against the wall following the undulations of the wall the hanging rail must not only be level it must be completely flat and that is why in the video here you see us using these u-shaped shims in blue and a dark red color these colors show different thicknesses and allow you to move the hanging rail off the wall and then screw the screw in tightly to hold the rail in place when all is finished the hanging rail should be securely fastened against the wall but it must be flat one more thing before you move on where your studs are make a mark with a pencil 53 inches off the floor this will be visible after you have hung your upper frames so that you can affix the bottoms of your upper cabinets to the studs these marks will all be hidden by any tile work that you do for your backsplash [Music] next we begin assembling our frames first prepare a clear work table to assemble the frames and drawers begin by opening the package i use a paint scraper under each cardboard flap once the boxes are open sort out the contents into clear visible piles to stay organized another switch door pro tip we do not suggest you use the plastic spacers that ikea supplies that are meant to be installed on the back of the frames we will show you why later if you're putting together ikea frames for the first time i recommend starting on a basic frame first to get an understanding of how things work then do the more difficult frames like corner or large pantries the first step here is an added step to make the frame stronger drill a small hole in the gables between the dowel and the metal post [Music] next screw in the metal posts into each of the outside holes next gently hammer in the wooden dowel to each of the holes on the inside i do so with the back of a screwdriver or a small hammer once you've hammered in all the parts begin connecting the entire frame together make sure the grooves on the frame line up together the groove is what the back is slotted into once your frame is put together take your metal locking discs and screw them into the holes on the side of the frame do so in every hole do not over tighten this screw but do so so it draws the components nicely together next turn the cabinet so the back is facing upwards hammer in the nails along the dotted line but only so far in that they hold themselves up do not nail them all the way ensure that the length of the frame diagonally is the same both ways use a tape measure and measure this several times this is how you square the box up and if you do not do this you will not be able to achieve nice gaps on your drawer fronts when you come to put those in later on once you're sure that the lengths are equal hammer the nails down fully to finish off our added step using a countersink drill bit drill through the holes and screw in one and three quarter inch screws to secure the base doing this step is going to give a much stronger assembly to your whole kitchen now we want to attach the hanging brackets on the back of the cabinets it is these brackets that clip onto the hanging rail and are screwed into the side gables using three screws congratulations your frame is almost complete feel free to complete the rest at your own pace to fully complete the frame we need to attach the metal stretcher at the top for the back attach two white clips to the metal stretcher and then slot those into the back of the frame once you're happy with that placement screw it into the top of the gables for the front all you need to do is screw it in the stretcher lastly we want to put on the black glides that the feet clip into ensure that the thin end is facing outwards simply hammer them into place [Music] do not put the legs on yet these glides can be used to move your cabinets around the floor and will protect the front edge of your cabinet from getting damaged next we will begin construction of our drawers much like the frames take out all the parts and organize them into neat visible piles to begin clip the sides and back of the drawer together rest these components on a table with the back on the face of the table and the sides pointing the upwards bottom has actually got grooves on it one face is white the other edge is unfinished the white edge wants to finish up here looking like this the grooves go to the bottom edge of the drawer [Music] next is understanding where to put the actual draw slides on the cabinet the three drawer cabinet goes in holes number two thirteen twenty one let's mark them on the cabinet one 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 mark the holes you are going to use with a pencil on both sides one two three four five six seven 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 the draw slides need to be assembled before you put them into the cabinet here we're assembling the soft close portion of the slide they are a left and right and can only be used in one way [Music] on the drawer slide you have two parallel sets of holes one set in the middle here and one set at the front of the drawer in order to make this an easy install on the i put the back the middle holes first and then we move to the front otherwise the the slide becomes very unwieldy to actually manage the actual bottom slides for the bottom drawer use the top row of holes every drawer after that uses the bottom row of holes if you remember that you will save yourself a lot of aggravation so the bottom drawer slide for the bottom drawer uses the top row of holes in the middle here we actually use the back hole and we actually put the screw in first then slide the actual carriage to the front and hold it in the middle put your screwdriver into the screw come across to the cabinet and then just putting pressure on the screw you can actually then just screw that nice and neatly and firmly into the second hole up from the bottom which is the one that you marked now move the carriage back into its closed position using the screw actually on the screwdriver and just holding it with your finger raise up this slide fractionally and you can actually put the screw in and that is complete [Music] at the front of the cabinet you will see there are two lines of holes and those correspond to the two holes that are at the front of the slide you want to put both screws into your slide the reason we do this is that when you are using your kitchen and you have filled the drawers and they are heavy when the slide has come out all of the actual stress on the cabinet is at this point here as this is taking the weight so we want to make sure that these two screws are in and they're in firmly but do not over tighten the screws we'll also show you later in the video how to strengthen this even further once the cabinet is installed do the same on the other side we're now putting the middle drawer in and we've already marked which holes the slide is going in because this is the middle slide we're not using the top row of holes as we did for the bottom slide we are using the bottom row of holes again open up the slide put the screw in the furthest hole away from the front on the bottom put your screwdriver holding the screw in place and then come into the mark hole that you've already put in put it at 90 degrees this way the actual drawer slide is holding the screw for you so it's not going to fall and twist around once you've done that push the slide in you'll now see that you can you can let it go this isn't an issue you can let that go a little bit get another screw put it on the end of your screwdriver lift this up and remember you're not on the top row of holes you're on the bottom row of holes offer the screw in place and do the same on the other side you're using the bottom row of holes so if you forget to put these on before you actually screw the slide in it still is it is possible and it's not a problem you don't have to remove the slide this is the left hand slide it's on the left hand of the cabinet and you want the actual soft closed mechanism that has got the l printed in it which is right here you can see that this is an l-shaped piece of um of metal and that's how it sits on the the actual slide on the top of it it actually says the word top you want to pull the slide open and then these are the holes at the back that actually correspond to these so when you pop it in you can see how these pieces that are sticking out fit into these two holes here don't try to catch it onto this part so we're going like this it rests on and then when you're done you hear the clip be careful when you're doing it don't hold onto this part of the slide as you're pulling it this part is quite sharp and if you slip you can cut yourself and then continue and do the same process on the top slide again we're using for the top drawer we're using the lower row of holes again we are using the bottom row of holes [Music] use all of the screws three on each side to secure the drawer slide [Music] complete the other side of the cabinet and you now have got a completed cabinet of drawer slides ready to accept the drawers and now it's time to install the adjustable legs clip them together as shown here in the video don't forget to put this ring this donut ring on the front legs of your cabinet this is necessary as it is a guide for the toe kick so that it is not pushed out of place when you are finishing the kitchen turn the legs once the cabinet is hanging on the hanging rail until the cabinet is perfectly level [Music] and then attach the next cabinet making sure the cabinets are level as you go along [Music] here we see the sink cabinet and we have a center line running down it and we've cut out the cutouts for the electrical and the plumbing when cabinets are installed next to each other these vise clamps are essential you can easily move the cabinet up and down using the feet so that the faces the white edge tape is nice and smooth once you're happy and you've clamped both the top edges the front and the back and also down near the base you can then screw the cabinets together using one and a quarter inch screws [Music] we also find it useful that when we are setting our cabinets and we have got a range or a dishwasher we actually make spaces as you see here a 30 inch spacer for a range that way we can actually install the cabinets and make sure that those cabinets stay that distance apart while the installation is being done depending on your range sometimes it is better to leave a gap of 30 and a quarter inches to allow your range to actually be installed this is where you need to refer to your specifications of the range that you have purchased dishwashers have two different widths that you need some dishwashers are 24 inches wide and some dishwashers are 60 centimeters wide which is 23 and 5 8. after you have installed the cabinets and leveled them it is now time to put the little locking nuts on the back hanging rail as seen here install the gray clips and then turn them 90 degrees and this prevents the cabinet from being lifted up off the rail if you have a kitchen island it can be advisable to actually secure the island firmly down to the floor here we are installing a two by six that has been cut down to just smaller than the undersize of the cabinet and gluing that down with pl adhesive to the floor then we cut wedges and we glue those wedges in place and then we're able to screw down through the base of the cabinet into this two by six this is a process that needs to be done over a couple of days the first two by six that is cut down to around about four and a half inches needs to be glued down to the floor before you then carry on and screw the cabinet down to it [Music] when you're actually assembling the ikea boxes in the instructions it tells you to use this particular white piece of plastic and nail it on the bottom edge of the back of the cabinet like this this is to actually keep the cabinets away from the wall a little bit and ikea give you two of these per cabinet to nail on as you are nailing the back on i strongly recommend that you do not use these you just throw them away instead of that when you are actually hanging the cabinet on the wall i would encourage you to actually use a piece of plywood this is 5 8 of an inch thick and when it's hung on the wall we're just going to see this in a minute you're going to actually put this and rest this on this lip of the bottom of the cabinet and position it directly in the line of a stud and that is really important become very clear when we when we go to the cabinets on the wall hang the wall cabinets on the wall use the vise clamps and screw them together as seen here [Music] [Music] right here you can see this is the the screws that are going into the studs we've just attached the cabinets together so the front faces are perfectly flush we now pull the cabinet away from the wall it will not fall down because it's hooked on the actual rail at the top you're actually going to just push this piece of plywood up and then rest it on the lip that we just talked about directly in line with the studs on the wall here here here and here so these pieces of plywood effectively are going to be placed right here on the other side of the back of the cabinet once you've done that you want to get your level and this part you want to spend some time on you want to make sure these cabinets are hanging perfectly vertical i.e at 90 degrees and also this cabinet the same at 90 degrees and then that they are not skewed on the wall so they are not going one way or the other so we actually put a level on the back wall here [Music] there we go 90 degrees put your level on the front edge of the cabinets those two want to show 90 degrees and you adjust these these wedges and shims until you get everything showing 90 degrees the same in the corner and then when you cut this filler strip this that actually goes flush with the white cabinet this should be a parallel filler you should not have to taper that because this cabinet is 90 degrees this way this cabinet is 90 degrees this way and 90 this way so that should not be anything but parallel take time on doing this part of the installation this here is where the stud is running behind the wall and that's where we want to attach the bottom of our cabinet so if you follow that line up there and then just put a pencil mark right inside gives you the indication where the stud is and then close to the bottom about quarter inch up from the bottom of the cabinet you need to drill a pilot hole this is a round head screw with a washer on it and we're going to use this to actually fix the back of the cabinet be careful not to drive these screws too tightly they're there just to hold the cabinet against the wall okay in this particular kitchen we're using puck lights as under counter lighting that are going in here i've positioned the holes where we want them to be this particular one is in the center of the cabinet and it's eight inches from the back we drill in a using a hole saw the right size to accept the puck light that you're using switched or tip is we don't always put them perfectly centered from front to back we actually move them closer to the front by a few inches remember to drill from both sides so as not to splinter out the actual hole it would be a cleaner cut in this application when we're using puck lights we use an additional shelf and groove out the bottom of it to hide the wires next it's time to install the hinge plates that fit so these are the actual hinge plates that the hinges on the doors attach to that are on the cabinets you need to make sure they go in the right way around so this is the front and this is the back so the back has got this open area here at the front actually does have a little arrow to it when you push them into the cabinet that you see right here for the upper cabinets i actually put it in the third hole up from the bottom and the third row hole down from the top ikea tells you to put it in the second hole the reason i do this is that in this particular kitchen we're putting a second shelf in the bottom that is going to hide the wiring here that powers the puck lights if you are using ikea's doors the hinge plates must be installed in the second hole up from the bottom and the second hole down from the top when you're actually putting these into the cabinets again you're the third row of holes up from the bottom and then the white dowels go into the holes make sure that it is pushed all the way in as far as it can go before you start using the screw gun once you've done that push and it's complete you should end up with this part of the metal here touching the white gable and there'll be no gap now it's time to clip the hinges into the door make sure you put a protective pad down on whichever surface you are laying your doors so as not to scratch them now it's time to clip the doors onto the cabinet offer the hinge up to the plates you've just screwed onto the cabinet and then clip the back of the hinge until you hear it click do this on the top on the bottom hinge and the door is successfully in place now it's time to install the brackets for the drawers as you can see the draw brackets have got three holes in them for the bottom drawer which is 15 inches high the bracket is using the bottom two holes the bracket is situated like this this being the bottom and this the top it is not this way round so it fits on like this and it does not go down like this for the bottom drawer but it is situated like this using them the bottom hole in the middle hole using the screws provided start the bottom screw position the bracket over the hole [Music] make sure when you're screwing the screws in that your screwdriver is vertical do not have it on an angle [Music] again we take the bracket and like i said here is the bracket this is the bottom edge this is the top we're using these two holes for the bottom drawer we go over to where the line of holes are drilled that is identical to those seen at ikea position the bracket over the hole put the bottom screw in first to get it started hold the bracket so it doesn't twist as you are turning the screw else that can damage the drawer position the bracket so the second hole lines up [Music] put the screw in place again make sure your screwdriver is perfectly vertical here we see a middle drawer that is 10 inches high again exactly the same bracket that used on all of the drawers for ikea we've got three holes this is the top this is the bottom this is a 10 inch drawer it's actually a middle drawer so it is not a bottom so we are going to use the top hole and the middle hole and this is the bottom edge of the drawer and these are the two holes drilled in the drawer we're going to use so we're going to be placing them like this [Music] the same is true for the top drawer we're using the top two holes of the bracket screwed in firmly to the drawer face so again this is a 15-inch drawer it is the bottom drawer for this cabinet however this drawer width is 21 inches now ikea does not make drawer fronts for 21-inch drawers they only allow you to have internal drawers in that cabinet at switch store we give you the option to have drawers on a 21-inch cabinet however there is a bit of an issue they only provide medium height drawers for the 21-inch cabinet so for the actual gallery rail which is this item here that connects on the back of the drawer that we've just installed in the cabinet and then attaches onto the drawer front whereas on all the other cabinets made at ikea this bracket would be on the top pair of holes we actually have to install it in the middle row of holes now again with this bracket there are three holes in it one two three this area here is the top of this bracket this is the bottom and because it's the bottom drawer we're using the bottom two holes you are not using this top hole at all [Music] these are the two holes on the drawer front that we're using and we line them up with the bottom two holes get the screws and screw it in we do the same on the other side again looking at the bracket this is the horseshoe shape which is what the actual gallery rail fits into that is the top of the bracket we're using the bottom two holes in these two holes the middle for any other drawers other than the bottom that have a gallery rail you use the top two holes in the bracket that holds the gallery rail for quick reference feel free to pause the video here now we want to attach the drawer fronts and this shows us clipping neatly in the drawer faces to the drawer boxes themselves the gallery rails are labeled with a gray and a white face for left and right and here is shown the little front pieces that just clip into place and also the drawer cover caps that cover the adjustment screws on the side of the door [Music] now let's look at how we can adjust the doors so we have equal gaps to move the doors left and right when the door is closed use this front screw as shown here next if we want to move the door up or down we use the hidden screw in the square hole next if we need to move the door in and out we use the back screw next let's look at the drawer adjustment the screw that is the furthest away from the drawer face moves the drawer front vertically up and down the gray plastic screw that is closest to the front drawer moves the drawer left and right we can also use the gallery rail to push the top edge of the drawer in or out this will help you align the drawer faces so they are completely flush with each other [Music] in the video you see me using two pieces of wood held against the front edge of the frame then clamping the cover panel flush with the front face of these two pieces of wood one of these blocks should be 21 millimeters and the second can be whatever here in the video you see that both of them are 21 millimeters wide the idea here is to clamp the cover panel to the side of the frame that is to be fixed to the front edge of the panel should be the same distance in front of the front edge of the frame by the distance of these two blocks of wood now using one of the 21 millimeter blocks of wood hold it against the wall where the back edge of your cover panel is with a sharp pencil slide the block of wood down the wall making a line on your cover panel 21 millimeters away from the wall now cut off the waste wood using either a table saw or jigsaw i personally cut away from the line removing the majority of the waste and then use a belt sander to sand down to the line once this is done hold the cover panel up to the frame that it is to be fixed to it should now fit tightly to the wall and be proud of the front edge of the frame by 21 millimeters when you are satisfied screw the panel into the frame with four inch and a quarter screws [Music] the base frame cover panel follows the same principle as the uppers except you do two cuts the one cut to the floor should result in your panel ending up flush with the top of the frame out of your wooden blocks pick one that fits just flush with the top of the frame to the cover panel use that wooden block to draw your line on the floor [Music] as for the second cut the front should end up 21 millimeters in front of the front edge of the frame just as we did on the upper cabinets once again grab your 21 millimeter block and a block that fits flush with the front edge of your cover panel use that block to draw a line down the side near the wall once you have both lines cut the cover panel and sand it down to the lines that you have marked once completed you should use clear silicone where all panels meet the floor and if you need to use a water-based dap where panels meet drywall measure and cut fillers so that when installed they leave the same size gap that is constant around your whole kitchen as you can see on the video i install a backer filler first that is flush with the front face of the frame carcass and into that i screw number six 5 8 screws turn your screws in and out until you find the placement that leaves your filler flush with the cabinet or drawer next to it if you need to you can keep the filler in place by simply sliding cardstock between the crack if necessary you can use some masking tape prepare your caulking gun with construction adhesive and add three spots of the adhesive to the melamine backing line up your filler perfectly and press it firmly into the backing add the cardstock between the cracks and let the adhesive set remember to install your rubber bumpers on the back of your drawers and doors before you set your fillers next measure and cut your toe kicks to length and height the height wants to be about a quarter inch less than what you measure to allow for easy install and removal using a straight edge mark with a pencil on both sides of the feet on the toe kick place two clamps between the lines and then attach those clamps with two screws each simply snap in the toe kicks i do not scribe my kicks to the floor i have found this draws attention to any irregularities in the floor leaving the factory straight edge on the toe kick at the floor looks best congratulations you have successfully completed your install [Music] you

Channel: SwitchDoor

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Keywords: Youtube channel, youtube, youtuber, subscribe, youtube videos, sub, youtube video, kitchen, custom, custom kitchen, custom kitchens, cabinets, kitchen cabinets, canada, semi-handmade, handmade, ikea, ikea kitchen, doors, drawers, home, dream kitchen, dream home, tutorial, ikea cabinets, kitchen install, installation, cabinetry install, custom ikea kitchen, toe kick, filler, drawer, door, cover panel, ikea hack, custom ikea, reno, renovation, tools, build, house, custom house, diy, do it yourself

Id: rLgFr7gTdyg

Length: 42min 5sec (2525 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021